Pharmaceuticals

Super chemo will be Big Pharma’s next tussle

16 May 2022

AstraZeneca and Sanofi are among peers developing drugs that attack tumours more efficiently than traditional chemotherapy. The treatments, dubbed ADCs, may fight diseases from breast to blood cancer and make $60 bln of annual sales. Laggards, like Novartis, may need to catch up.

Capital Calls: Ford’s private equity playbook

2 Mar 2022

Concise views on global finance: The Detroit automaker’s reorganization plan makes explicit the goal of squeezing its traditional car business for cash to fund its electric future.

Vaccine tortoises will win marathon, not sprint

15 Feb 2022

GSK, Sanofi and France’s Valneva are launching new Covid-19 jabs just as infections wane. Pfizer and Moderna’s shots also have a huge head start. But as the need for speed recedes, governments will favour cheaper, longer-lasting vaccines born of more familiar science.

CVS tests positive for Covid-related profit

9 Feb 2022

The U.S. health retailer made around $4 bln in extra revenue from providing vaccines and tests in 2021, earning about 10 times its usual profit margin. Most of the gain will pay for a higher dividend. That’s the cost of getting the private sector to deliver a public good.

Swiss generics buyout requires flawless treatment

3 Feb 2022

Blackstone and Carlyle are eyeing Novartis’ Sandoz unit, worth perhaps $25 bln. The reported valuation looks punchy given the misfiring off-patent pill producer’s limited scope to grow. The slightest hiccup could leave private equity buyers swallowing a meagre return.

Capital Calls: Siemens Gamesa, Psych SPAC

21 Jan 2022

Concise views on global finance: The 11 billion euro wind turbine manufacturer serves up its third profit warning in nine months; Hope for drugs to treat depression is tempered after rivals suffer mishaps.

Viewsroom: Credit Suisse chair, Unilever’s GSK bid

20 Jan 2022

As António Horta-Osório quits the Swiss lender after less than a year, Liam Proud explains what happened and offers career advice. And Unilever’s 50 bln pound offer for the pharma giant’s consumer unit puts both CEOs on the spot, say Aimee Donnellan and Dasha Afanasieva.

GSK’s consumer promise will be hard to live up to

19 Jan 2022

The drugmaker’s CEO Emma Walmsley rebuffed Unilever’s 50 bln pound bid for its personal health unit. Yet her plan to spin the division off would need rosy sales growth and a premium valuation to trump the Marmite maker’s offer. It’s a risk some investors may be prepared to take.

Unilever’s health kick is risky prescription

17 Jan 2022

CEO Alan Jope wants to expand in healthcare, beauty and hygiene while selling slower-growing food brands. But raising his 50 bln pound bid for GSK’s toothpaste unit will dent returns, while other big targets are scarce. Already grouchy investors have more reasons to grumble.

Capital Calls: UK bid gets hedge funds off hook

17 Jan 2022

Concise views on global finance: Private equity group Triton sweetens its offer for pharma group Clinigen to 1.3 bln pounds, raising the chances of hedge funds accepting the deal.

Unilever piles pressure on GSK spinoff plan

17 Jan 2022

GlaxoSmithKline rebuffed the sauce-to-soap group’s 50 bln pound bid for its consumer unit. Unilever’s plan faces challenges. But a listing is unlikely to earn a higher valuation for the Advil maker. To placate investors, GSK boss Emma Walmsley needs other buyers like J&J and P&G.

Capital Calls: Biogen hits Medicare wall

12 Jan 2022

Concise views on global finance: An unusual decision by the U.S. government program to restrict payment for the firm’s Alzheimer’s drug is likely to be an exception rather than becoming the rule.

Viewsroom: A $3 trln Apple, Theranos boss busted

6 Jan 2022

The company led by Tim Cook hit another mega-milestone thanks to a lightning focus on the iPhone universe and investor willingness to accord it a market-beating multiple, Richard Beales explains. And Elizabeth Holmes draws bright lines between hype and fraud, Gina Chon says.

Moderna’s boosted valuation has Tesla-like spin

5 Jan 2022

Its Covid-19 vaccine is one of the world’s biggest medical products, yet that doesn't justify even half of Moderna’s $94 bln market value. Like Elon Musk’s $1.2 trln carmaker, the company is now a bet on dominating markets yet to exist. That suggests a volatile future for investors.

Viewsroom: More 2022 predictions and prescriptions

30 Dec 2021

M&A bankers will need to think small, in size, but big when it comes to helping clients meet net-zero climate targets. Watch for Big Pharma to tool up in the data arms race. And the Great Resignation will hit executive suites because running companies remotely is no fun.

Data hunters will be Big Pharma’s next prey

20 Dec 2021

Drugmakers such as AstraZeneca spend $160 bln annually trying to unearth new treatments for diseases like cancer. The winners will be those who can source and analyse data quickly. That makes artificial intelligence experts like Relay Therapeutics and Exscientia targets.

Capital Calls: Bundesbank, Biogen

20 Dec 2021

Concise views on global finance: The new head of Germany's central bank is a reassuringly boring choice; cutting the price of its Alzheimer's drug could help Biogen squeeze something out of what looks like a flop.

Boots exit may smooth way for Walgreens buyout

6 Dec 2021

The $40 bln drugstore operator may sell its UK chain, less than a decade after buying it. A sale could raise $8 bln for the U.S. group to beef up its own in-store clinics. And if Chairman Stefano Pessina wants one last big deal, a leaner Walgreens would be an easier target.

UK health robot SPAC is punt on big pharma buyout

6 Dec 2021

The Zaoui brothers are merging their blank-cheque firm with BenevolentAI, which uses tech to discover new drugs. A $440 mln cash infusion will keep computers whirring, but revenue remains distant. Investors including AstraZeneca and Sanofi’s former CEO hint at a future takeover.

Nordic drug buyout flop highlights hidden gem

3 Dec 2021

The $8 bln takeover of Swedish Orphan Biovitrum failed after buyers could not secure 90% of the shares. The market reaction suggests the deal is dead. But investor AstraZeneca’s role in the failed bid and its interest in a respiratory disease treatment provides some comfort.